235 Mass. 325 | Mass. | 1920
It was provided in the written contract between the parties as follows: Starratt was to improve and cultivate certain land at Bonita Springs in the State of Florida owned or controlled by Potter. He was to use his own judgment and discretion without interference in the work to be done on the land and the sale of the produce, was to render complete accounts and to retain one half of the net income. Potter agreed to deposit $2,915 in a bank to the account and under the control of Starratt, “to be spent by him in the development and cultivation of” the land. He further agreed to pay for the crates, barrels, etc., necessary for sending the produce to market, "and to pay for the necessary labor and fertilizers for the cultivation of the said land from year to year.”
The contract was dated October 10, 1916. It was not to terminate before January 31, 1919; but an option was given to Starratt to terminate it at any time after May 31, 1918. The money was duly deposited in bank on October 13, 1916, and was $3,000 in amount. Potter went to Florida for the winter in the latter part of October, and Starratt arrived there about November 1. A planting of watermelons was killed by frost in early February, 1917; and a second crop was largely destroyed by drought in the later spring of that year. In July Starratt furnished Potter with a statement, showing expenditures amounting to $1,335.45. He made preparations to return to Bonita Springs in the early summer of 1917 and was willing to go on with the contract. Potter brought this action on August 8, 1917, after demanding the return of the balance of the money which Starratt had not actually expended on the land. The first count of his declaration was for alleged breach of the contract and the second was for money had and received.
The plaintiff’s claim that he can recover in this action, brought some seventeen months before the termination of the contract
The exceptions to the judge’s construction of the contract as a divisible one must be sustained. The defendant also was entitled to the first and sixth rulings requested by him.
Exceptions sustained.